Rhys—a budding Watcher more suited to research than fighting.
Artemis—injured and barely able to walk.
And me—not a Watcher. And now not a Slayer.
Off to save a world threatened by the very power I’d been given to protect it.
33
“SO, UH, WHERE’S LEO?” RHYS asks af
ter a few minutes of tense car silence.
“Leo’s part demon.” I stare out the window. Every passing tree marks a second lost, a minute lost, maybe the chance to save my mother and also quite possibly the world . . . lost.
“I know. He told me.”
Leo said something about asking Rhys, that he’d explain things. But I didn’t believe him. “He did?”
“That’s why we tried to make you come over. We needed to get you out of the castle without Leo’s mom knowing. If she knew, she would have come after you. He wanted you safe.”
I’m leaning halfway between the driver and passenger seats, lunging for Rhys. “When did he tell you this?”
Rhys holds up his hands. “Whoa, don’t kill the very helpful and much beloved messenger. He showed up right after you left this morning. Told us that his mother was a succubus, turned into one by his father. Who’s an incubus. And not the band, which would be a much preferable option at this point. Leo knows his mom isn’t great, but he says she’s always been nonlethal before now. And he kind of needs her to survive. She can pull energy from anything, but he can only get it from her. After they lost access to his dad, she’s gone off the deep end. He was trying to make sure she was okay, but she was sneaking around killing things. Anyway, Leo’s what’s known as a cambion. They have varying powers, depending on the combination, but one thing is always the same: gravity recognizes that they come from somewhere else and tries to pull them back down. That’s why the car guzzled so much gas when he was in it.”
“And why I couldn’t knock him over.”
“Yeah.”
“He told you this himself?”
“Brought me a page of a book on cambions. He ripped the page right out, which was difficult for me to forgive. But he wanted to help you, even though he’s part demon. And by the way, what is it with you girls and demons? Buffy and the soul vamps, you and a cambion. Is it a Slayer thing?” His smile fades as he sees the stricken look on my face. As he remembers that I’m not a Slayer anymore. Not really.
So Leo wasn’t one thing or the other. No wonder we had been drawn to each other. I was not quite a Watcher but not quite a civilian. And even when I was a Slayer, I had too much Watcher in me. Too much of an instinct to protect instead of slay. Never all one thing, and therefore having no place to belong.
I didn’t realize I could be both until it was too late.
“Anyway,” Rhys rushes on, “Leo and his mom came back to the castle to get information to try and break through to his father. He thought it would help his mom get back to normal. But then when Eve found out you were a Slayer, she decided to stay. Leo made her promise she wouldn’t touch you. When she killed Cosmina, though, Leo knew he had to get you out. He was tracking his mom earlier this morning, but he lost her. That’s when she attacked Cillian, to distract you and keep you away from Leo.”
“So he really was trying to protect me?”
“Yeah.” Rhys shrugs apologetically. “Where is he?”
“I left him in the woods.”
Rhys’s eyes widen. “Did you kill him?”
“Gods, no. I just got him super high with Doug’s dirty old shirt.” I lift a hand to rub my aching forehead. My fingers tremble. I can barely keep my head up. “Then his mom attacked me. And she won.” I turn back to the window. So Leo was trying to help me after all. But he still lied to me. And he knew all along what was going on. He let me run in circles, suspecting my own mother when his was the evil one. My heart hurts almost as much as the rest of my body.
Artemis reaches between the seats, takes my hand in hers, and squeezes. I don’t regret sacrificing my power to save her. But I can feel the loss everywhere, and it’s so hard not to sink down and cry.
“What’s the plan now?” Rhys asks.
I wait, but no one answers. He’s talking to me. Artemis too is waiting for my plan. They finally trust my instincts, now that I have no power to back them up. Fantastic. Still, I’m a Jamison-Smythe. I’m not totally defenseless. And I’m going to fight with everything I have left. “Eve’s a demon. We’re Watchers. We’ll do what Watchers do best.”
“Research?” Rhys says.
“Babysit?” Imogen offers with a wry eyebrow.